So my friend Shatzi from Love and Laundry is, oh, ya know, just off touring Europe this month... lucky girl :)
To help her not leave her blog empty in the meantime, I wrote this post as one of her guest posters recently. I've been having fun making watermelon fun this summer :)
On Cooper's birthday, I tried my hand at carving a unique watermelon bowl for his little party. It was so fun and so simple! I've since done a few different versions too and it only takes a few easy steps...
Start, of course, with your whole watermelon. (This first bit is for the watermelon that I carved to look like flames.) Cut a very small portion off what will be the bottom of your bowl- make sure to only cut a little so it won't leak out the bottom!
Next, cut the top of a few inches above where you want the top of the bowl to actually be. With the top cut off, you can go about digging all that yummy watermelon out and setting it in a bowl to the side.
Now use a marker to hand draw your flames (or really whatever sort of pattern or shape you desire). A simple zig zag would be even easier and still look great! The thick marker was all I could find (this seems to happen a lot around my house :P), but a smaller tip one would surely be better.
I used a small, sharp steak type knife to carve on the inside of my lines. Be careful to stay inside your lines so you don't see the line you drew...
With your cute bowl done, you can cut that watermelon you dug out earlier and put in back in- so fun, eh?! This would be a really fun, easy thing to take to a potluck or party :)
Now to show you how I cut out the number six in a watermelon bowl... See above what I mean about not cutting too much out of the bottom?! I used it anyway, but it made a total mess in my fridge :P
For the six, when I made the cut for the top of the bowl, I didn't go straight across, I left a big notch out that was a lot taller than the rest to put a vinyl stencil I cut with my Cricut on. Then used a big knife to carve the outside of the number and a small knife for the circle inside. A cutting machine wouldn't be necessary, either- hand draw your design or print and cut something out for your stencil too- the options are totally endless! Just think- a castle, a superman S, a basic monster truck, a tall mountain, a chubby frog, a starburst... whatever fits your party could become that notch :)
My little guy and the family that came over to celebrate with us thought even this simple number was pretty cool :) This is something really anyone can do- it's truly simple and the results are really fun!
Enjoy!
